Getting hit by a drunk driver is different from an ordinary crash. The impact is often more violent, the injuries more severe, and the driver’s conduct more indefensible. It also changes your legal position in ways most injured people are not told about. Florida law treats impaired drivers differently, and if you were hit by a drunk driver in Broward County, that difference can significantly increase what your claim is worth.

What you do in the first days matters. Here is how these cases work and how to protect your recovery.

What Should You Do After Being Hit by a Drunk Driver?

The steps immediately after the crash shape both the criminal case against the driver and your civil claim:

• Call 911 and report suspected impairment. Tell the dispatcher what you observed. This triggers a DUI investigation and creates an official record.
• Get medical attention right away, even if you feel functional. Adrenaline masks serious injuries, and gaps in treatment become an insurance argument later.
• Photograph everything you safely can: vehicle positions, damage, debris, road conditions, and your visible injuries.
• Identify witnesses. In a drunk driving case, bystanders who saw the driver’s behavior before or after the crash are especially valuable.
• Note where the driver came from. A bar, restaurant, or event may matter later.
• Do not discuss fault at the scene or with the other driver’s insurer.

Request the crash report once it is available. The Broward Sheriff’s Office or the local police agency that responded will document field sobriety results, breath test readings, and any arrest, all of which become evidence in your civil case.

How Does the Criminal DUI Case Affect Your Injury Claim?

The criminal prosecution and your injury claim are separate proceedings. The state charges the driver under Florida Statute § 316.193; you pursue compensation in civil court. Neither controls the other, and you do not need a conviction to recover.

Still, the criminal case is useful. A DUI arrest, chemical test results, and any plea or conviction supply documented proof of impairment that supports your civil claim. Because the criminal case often moves on its own timeline, your civil claim should not wait for it to conclude.

Can You Recover Punitive Damages From a Drunk Driver?

This is where drunk driving cases separate from ordinary negligence claims. Florida allows punitive damages, which punish conduct rather than compensate losses, and the state’s rules are unusually favorable to victims of impaired drivers.

Under Florida Statute § 768.72, punitive damages require a reasonable evidentiary showing of intentional misconduct or gross negligence before the claim can even be pleaded. In a drunk driving case, the arrest record and test results often satisfy that gate readily.

The more significant provision is Florida Statute § 768.736. Florida normally caps punitive damages under § 768.73 at three times compensatory damages or $500,000, whichever is greater. Those caps do not apply to a defendant who, at the time of the act, was under the influence of alcohol or drugs to the extent that normal faculties were impaired, or who had a blood or breath alcohol level of 0.08 percent or higher.

The practical effect is substantial. An insurer defending an impaired driver is not negotiating against a fixed statutory ceiling, and experienced adjusters price that risk differently.

Can You Sue the Bar That Served the Driver?

Sometimes, but Florida’s law here is narrower than in most states. Under Florida Statute § 768.125, a business that sells or furnishes alcohol to someone of lawful drinking age is generally not liable for injuries caused by that person’s intoxication. Serving a visibly drunk adult, by itself, does not create liability in Florida.

Two exceptions exist. A vendor may be held liable when it:

• Willfully and unlawfully serves alcohol to someone under 21, or
• Knowingly serves a person habitually addicted to alcohol

These claims require real proof. Establishing that a bar knew of a customer’s addiction typically means showing a documented pattern, not just a busy night. When an exception applies, it can add a commercially insured defendant to the case, which matters when the driver’s own coverage falls short.

What If the Drunk Driver Doesn’t Have Enough Insurance?

Impaired drivers frequently carry minimum coverage or none at all, and Florida does not require drivers to carry bodily injury liability insurance. That creates a common problem: clear liability, but nowhere near enough coverage.

Potential sources of recovery include:

• Your own uninsured and underinsured motorist coverage under Florida Statute § 627.727, which is often the most important policy in the case
• Your Personal Injury Protection benefits, which pay 80 percent of medical bills and 60 percent of lost wages up to the policy limit, regardless of fault
• A dram shop claim against a vendor, when § 768.125 applies
• Employer liability, if the driver was working at the time
• The driver’s personal assets, though these are frequently limited

What Damages Can You Recover?

Because a drunk driving crash often causes severe injury, the claim usually reaches beyond PIP. To recover non-economic damages such as pain and suffering from the at-fault driver, your injuries must meet the serious injury threshold in Florida Statute § 627.737, which requires a permanent injury, significant and permanent loss of an important bodily function, significant and permanent scarring or disfigurement, or death.

Recoverable damages typically include medical expenses, lost wages and future earning capacity, pain and suffering, and, in these cases, punitive damages.

Fault still matters. Under Florida Statute § 768.81, you recover nothing if you are found more than 50 percent at fault, and your recovery is reduced by your share below that line. Even against a drunk driver, expect the defense to look for ways to assign you blame. Most negligence lawsuits must also be filed within two years.

Protecting Your Claim After a Broward County Drunk Driving Crash

Evidence in these cases is perishable. Bar receipts and surveillance footage are routinely discarded within weeks. Prompt investigation preserves the proof that supports both liability and punitive damages.

At Bozanic Law, we represent people injured by impaired drivers in personal injury cases throughout Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach counties. We pursue every available source of coverage and build the record that supports uncapped punitive exposure. We don’t judge. We defend.

If a drunk driver injured you or someone in your family, contact Bozanic Law for a free, confidential case review.

No Panic, Call Bozanic!